Adult film star Stormy Daniels suggested on Tuesday that former President Donald Trump appeared to admit to claims that he paid her hush money to keep quiet about their alleged affair in a Truth Social post.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who declined to charge Trump in connection to the tax fraud violations by his company, has begun presenting evidence to a newly impaneled grand jury related to the alleged $130,000 hush money payment. Prosecutors have begun to interview witnesses to determine whether they will seek to charge Trump with misclassifying the cash as legal expenses to cover up a violation of New York state election law by paying Daniels during the campaign. Trump has denied that he had an affair with Daniels and the hush money payment but his longtime former fixer Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to federal charges in connection with the scheme, which he said was at the direction of Trump.
Trump lashed out over the renewed probe on Truth Social, claiming that the statute of limitations had run out on the 2016 allegations, though legal experts say Bragg has a strong case that the statute of limitations was tolled while Trump was mostly out of the state during his presidency.
"With respect to the 'Stormy' nonsense, it is VERY OLD & happened a long time ago, long past the very publicly known & accepted deadline of the Statute of Limitations. I placed full Reliance on the JUDGEMENT & ADVICE OF COUNCIL [sic], who I had every reason to believe had a license to practice law, was competent, & was able to appropriately provide solid legal services," Trump wrote, referring to Cohen. "He came from a good law firm, represented other clients over the years, & there was NO reason not to rely on him, and I did."
Daniels cited the post as an admission of guilt.
"Thanks for just admitting that I was telling the truth about EVERYTHING," she wrote.
Thanks for just admitting that I was telling the truth about EVERYTHING. 😂 Guess I'll take my "horse face" back to bed now, Mr. former "president".
— Stormy Daniels (@StormyDaniels) January 31, 2023
Btw, that's the correct way to use quotation marks. 💋 pic.twitter.com/VSG867kwk8
Trump previously insulted Daniels by calling her "horseface" in another Truth Social post insisting that he "NEVER HAD AN AFFAIR."
"Guess I'll take my 'horse face' back to bed now, Mr. former 'president'. Btw, that's the correct way to use quotation marks," she wrote on Tuesday.
Trump has repeatedly denied that he had an affair and that he had anything to do with the payment to Daniels but she has repeatedly stuck by her story that they had sex in 2006, a year after he married Melania Trump and described the alleged encounter in graphic detail in her 2018 book.
Cohen in 2018 pleaded guilty to a campaign finance violation in relation to the payment. Trump was never charged but was referred to as "Individual-1" in charging documents.
"Dopey Donald gets it wrong AGAIN and AGAIN! First, the [statute of limitations] has not expired. Additionally, Donald is so angry he can't even get his spelling correct," Cohen tweeted on Tuesday. "The proper word is Counsel…not Council. Either way…love the all CAPS."
While New York has a five-year statute of limitations on many potential violations related to the alleged payment and the Trump Organization's tax fraud conviction, prosecutors could argue that the actions were part of an ongoing crime, noted Norm Eisen, a senior Brookings Institution fellow who served as a Democratic counsel during Trump's first impeachment. Prosecutors could also "argue that the statute of limitations should be extended as to Trump because he has been outside of New York 'continuously' over at least the last four years, during the term of his presidency," he wrote, adding that the Manhattan D.A.'s office successfully did this in its prosecution of Harvey Weinstein.
